Mental illness caused by a bad society

Hello Roswell, see my post, 'Has Covid-19 triggered mass psychosis?' it has a link to a video on YouTube exploring similar themes you might find interesting, or not.

I think it depends not only on society but also on those who are close to them.

Hi I was in a mental health hospital and there wasn't any black people in there, 14 males on my ward. I would say that autistic people struggle to have a support network which is vital as you get older. I'm in my thirties and have slowly lost friends during my twenties. 

In the Western World our notions of health in relation to ' health care ' do not make any sense even to the most practical and logical mind and furthermore, the notion in Western medicine, that the body is somehow separate from the mind, and therefore treatments should be separated is absolutely absurd, yet it continues to this day. 

It has been understood for thousands of years that the only approach to health and well being that should be taken and is successful is a holistic approach. In other words, have the patient and their problems in totality at the forefront of any treatment. In times past this was determined by the wise or elders, medicine men, healers and shaman who would also have known the person in question or their family. This could have involved getting to the crux of any problems, illnesses or any other health or well beings problems. The human spirit usually has an answer.

When the human spirit is disconnected, when tribes are disbanded, when communities are no longer in charge of their own destiny, when there is no togetherness, when there is no pulling together for the greater good, then there is no humanity. 

Unless communities are able to be naturally in charge of their own futures we will continue to be sick physically or mentally. 

That's all.

Society?

In my case it's more personal, mad family, violent infant school, and I never recovered.

Erich Fromm is one of my favourites!

In his book 'The Sane Society' (1950ish), Erich Fromm makes the interesting point that where mental illness is defined relative to the average or 'normal' population, it is logically impossible to have a society where the majority suffer from mental wellness. He then goes on to explain the sickness that he sees in modern industrial consumer societies and I believe he offers an alternative vision of health & wellness. 

It seems like part of your question is interrogating the validity of the way in which we define mental illness? 

My understanding is that in the UK, an important part of the definition centres around the extent to which someone is able to participate in 'normal' daily tasks like caring for themselves and their homes, going to work, socializing etc. 

I would say that in some cases it's very clear if someone is either side of the line, but in others, where they exist closer to the imaginary line between health and sickness, it's harder to say on which side they should be placed. 'Non-health' inputs such as access to support networks, financial freedom, access to nature etc. might be the difference between an individual becoming 'sick' or managing to get by okay, but presumably in the case of autism, for example, the underlying brain condition is not changed by these external conditions. 

My belief is that the conditions under which most people live in contemporary industrialized societies are deleterious to mental health, and that a society organized along more egalitarian, sustainable and altruistic grounds would result in better mental health & well being outcomes for everybody, regardless of if they have a pre-existing condition or not. 

The book 'The Divided Brain' (The master and his emissary) from Iain McGhilchrist (documentary & summaries available online) is a fascinating look at the bi-hemispheric nature of the human brain and what that means for us as individuals and society. He suggests that autism, as well as other conditions might be caused by variances in the sizes/functioning of the two hemispheres.., and that this may also be  linked to prone-ness to depression.., suggesting that their might be some biological link.., but don't take my word for it! 

Highly Highly recommend that book to everyone, it's fascinating stuff!

I agree. High unemployment is a policy of Conservatives and has been almost religiously followed since the 80's because it drives down wages and employment security thus driving up profits for big business. It's no coincidence that poverty sky-rocketed in the 80's & 90's and again from 2010 onwards under Conservatives where millions are still on zero-hours contracts and using food banks to this day. 

And again, under Cameron, we saw the same pattern & tactics used of the 80's & 90's of creating mass unemployment by the government on one hand and demonising the unemployed on the other hand. It's a very cruel & barbaric yet successful way of forcing people to scramble and fight for any scraps of work they can get their hands on because of the very real threat of benefit sanctions that can and has led many into mental health crisis, destitution, homelessness or suicide. 

I felt depressed (I didn't get a diagnosis) when I was long term unemployed after leaving university in the early 1980s, which was a time of very high (over three million) unemployment. My feeling of depression was caused by lots of job applications being rejected (difficult seeing light at the end of the tunnel), gloomy economic news plus a load of negative attitudes towards unemployed people. Eventually after further training, I found stable employment for quite a few years.  Quite a lot of people are unemployed for years and I think that this can be a vicious circle leading to deep depression.

I have read that unemployment is higher amongst people on the Autistic spectrum. I felt better when I have been in work, even though the work environment can be problematic.  So I believe that government policies that lead to high unemployment can cause mental illness.

the answer to that question depends on who you ask

The short answer is yes (and from research) when it comes to Autism and Schizophrenia - a majority of the time. 

For in-depth reading, Deleuze and Guattari's Anti-Oedipus, Capitalism and Schizophrenia, literally spells out in glorious detail how this can happen. It's further backed up by their extension on these matters in A Thousand Plateaus. 

Both R.D. Laing and Felix Guattari believed marginalised individuals needs an escape, a retreat from society. They were experimental at the time as their theories hadn't been put in to practice and they both abhorred the practices in "medicine" at the time against the mentally ill. It's traumatising to even research, to be honest.

Oedipalisation is a process through Sublimation (a defence mechanism), given the name by Freud, where Neurotics (NTs) intake as children through semiotics and language that they are innately guilty and therefore operate out of a feeling of debt. Basically an exchange of Guilt and Debt. So they go about malfunctioning as it were and society operates this way: "functioning because it malfunctions". So long as a thing is misfiring rather than just worn out, it is in operation. In the extreme, they become psychotic or perverse (warped thinking) with this guilt and debt. I personally think the double empathy problem hinges on this mode for NTs with everyone affirming each others virtue signalling of 'feeling guilty' and making it some kind of drama, as what else can one do? 

This sort of feeling can drive all sorts of bad ethics. And when an ASC child senses a thing is out of order or off and cannot understand this in society, it IS completely maddening. Now, this isn't in the least to throw aside biological malfunctioning, which is unfortunate and should always be examined, but NTs are cruel to each other in covert ways. What would make us think they would be any kinder to those who appear to 'escape their system' or escape their chains and imagined imprisonment. 

Big topic, though. There's so much more... 

I guess it’s both on one extreme you have things like dementia where it’s clearly a medical thing and no amount of social work can stop the decline on the other there are some very different societies and very different experiences of mental illness. 

Also how people with dementia are treated will determine how they react to the condition.

From an autism point of view, I am in very good mental health now, I don’t think that will change, I know I’m very lucky to have found myself in this position so I’m trying to work out how I got here so I can help people.

Roswell,

What the society demands of autistic people is what causes the mental illnesses, if it was the gene they would have already had the mental illness.

Masking is the problem, autistic adults are more likely to have suicidal thoughts because of thwarted belonging and unacceptance of our natural way of being.

The society demanding us to do things their way, disallowing people to stim, force eye contact, forced to socialize when they don't want to, basically taking authority over our lives that we don't get to choose for ourselves but instead live facing stigma, cultural prejudice and oppression.

It is undeniable that the majority of suffering autistic people experience is through mistreatment by the society.